Why do right?

I did not ask for explanations, I have no questions.I waved nothing away, I pointed out that other explanations were unsatisafactory and incomplete.You know my explanation, Ringo. The good 'ol Compass Pointing to God theory.

Do you seriously not know this stuff?It is our having been made in the Image of God, remember? Then there was that little episode in the garden where the devil spoke, we became confused, and had the Compass Installation by eating of the Tree of Good and Evil.This is all myth and sybolic language. We have become so used to hearing these stories that they become insane rhetoric. Yet, they are quite sensible and can fit nicely into an evolutionary picture. If we have evolved from lesser animals, we have one way or another reached a point when our abilities and knowledge became so great that we were capable of breaking the barriers of instinct. We were forced to develope a morality that would preserve us from self-annihilation, yet, clearly, survival of the body is not the main function of this morality.Edited by anastasia, : No reason given.

Yeah, I know. My snake speaks to me too.

So, we are back again to being animals without choices. Humph. This is getting so repetitive. I have kept African Cichlids. They are hard-wired to consume as much as possible even to their own death, because in nature they eat but seldom.In one paragraph you have said that food was not that common, and that we had plenty of natural resources because we lived in small tribes. I guess eating was not a big deal for us tribes, eh? Now, are you saying that obese people have a brain mal-function and can't control their eating habits, when we know that this is false and metabolism is the key factor?Are you saying that eating junk is natural when we know to eat more healthy meals?Are you saying we are animals that have no choice? I sure hope you don't contribute to those threads which keep knocking the Israelites for their war crimes and slavery Or better yet, to those which bash the Crusades? Obviously those poor crusaders were only trying to protect their tribes! It was a brain mal-function, and the reverted back to hard-wired behaviors. Feeling Hitlerish?Edited by anastasia, : No reason given.

I guess some of us are hard-wired to want good things, and some aren't. I guess Mother Teresa is nothing special, since she had no choice but to desire a life of slaving away in the streets of Calcutta, caring for lepers and staying by them until they died. I guess Hitler had no choice but to desire the death of millions. Works for me. Yeah, I understand. But if we have no control over our desire to eat junk, the diet commercials are pretty much useless.

You haven't done much in the way of answers yourself, there. Easy to be the question guy. Ok, fine. I do good because it helps me or my species to survive. I do evil because it USED to help me or my species survive. Happy?

I do, I have learned from you. I think I also ask the most questions when I feel a person is spoutin' nonsense, something else I learned from you. Oh, and the smilies.Why oh why, do you judge us poor folk who keep religion because it helps us survive?Edited by anastasia, : No reason given.

Not very praise-worthy, I am thinking, at all. See, 'good' is in the eye of the beholder apparently. It is not absolute or real. Those who oppose abortion and homosexual marriage believe they are acting in the interests of the human race just as well as those who support such.

Religion keeps me so a'tremblin' at the gates of Hell that survival is all I can think of, and all I can wish for my fellows.

I was being sarcastic, Iceage. I am implying that I need God to tell me to feel empathy...which I do, but he has already naturally given me that ability as part of my moral compass. I am just so unusual as to attribute this to Him rather than a natural survival instinct. I believe morality has more to do with the spirit than the survival of the body.Ringo has a good Sarcasm Detector; sorry for the confusion.Edited by anastasia, : No reason given.

Interesting, but you can't prove that mice, chimps. and oher animals which we inhumanely use for these studies, have ever felt guilt when they did not do these things, and have ever had a choice to do otherwise.

I have seen the entirety of the similar thread.Please tell me what you mean by 'moral options'. Oh, wait, you are referring to your little 'Der Mensch kann was er will' ?Ok, fine, here we go again. Hitler had no choice, Mother Teresa had no choice, both did what their Personal Moral Chooser Function told them to do.

In another thread, Doddy Curumehtar has said just this. He has shown examples of chimps and mice exhibiting what we consider moral behavior. I myself have seen the way my birds react to the death of their mates. I have no proof or evidence that they had a choice in this behavior, or that they felt any guilt when they did not respend to the death of their mates. In fact, a non-response on the part of a bird would be evidence to us that they had no empathy, and not that they had a choice and chose not to empathize.

You don't have proof that you feel guilt? Are you not ever a criminal yoursef? Please do not be so high and mighty. You know nothing of criminals to judge that their brain works any differently.If you are reffering to serial killers, well, that is obvious. If they don't know right from wrong, they can't be judged, yes? They are considered insane. Those who are found to be sane are considered to have had a choice.

In four and a half sentences you have confused yourself? Why not hit 'Reset Fields', start again, use quote brackets, and if you are still confused, delete?Edited by anastasia, : No reason given.